Jeff Bezos Announces First Winners of $10Bn Climate Change Pledge

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced that he will give USD$791 million in grants as part of his Bezos Earth Fund to 16 organisations working to fight climate change. The fund is part of Bezos’ $10 billion pledge to support scientists, activists, NGOs and organisations working to protect the environment.

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The list of grantees include NGOs, labs, reforestation and climate justice groups, including The Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund, ClimateWorks Foundation, Dream Corps Green For All, Eden Reforestation Projects, Energy Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, NDN Collective, Rocky Mountain Institute, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Solutions Project, Union of Concerned Scientists, World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund.

What Does This Mean?

1. The Environmental Defense Fund, which received $100 million, said that it would use the money to launch a satellite that measures emissions of methane, while The Union of Concerned Scientists said it would use its $15 million grant to advocate for updates to the US electric grid and electrify commercial trucking, a major source of emissions.

2. Last year, Amazon announced “The Climate Pledge,” the company’s commitment to be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2025 and be net zero carbon by 2040. Amazon has also purchased 100 000 electric delivery vehicles and invested $100 million into reforestation projects and “climate mitigation solutions.”

3. In May 2019, thousands of Amazon employees signed a letter asking how the company planned to respond to climate change, and many staged a walkout in September 2019 calling on the company to do more. Earlier this year, Amazon fired two employees who tried to speak out about the issue. 

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In an Instagram post, Jeff Bezos says, “I’ve spent the past several months learning from a group of incredibly smart people who’ve made it their life’s work to fight climate change and its impact on communities around the world. I’m inspired by what they’re doing, and excited to help them scale.” 

He adds, “We can all protect Earth’s future by taking bold action now.”

Featured image by: Flickr